Panel OKs shelter

Some say facility for homeless poses threat

Posted: Friday, June 04, 2010

By BLAKE AUED

The Athens-Clarke Planning Commission signed off on a homeless shelter in a gentrifying part of East Athens on Thursday over the objections of about a dozen homeowners, real estate agents and property managers who said they fear for their safety.

A Bigger Vision for Athens, a winter shelter that has bounced around various locations for the past six years, is seeking permission to turn a building at the corner of North Avenue and Willow Street into a year-round shelter.

Mark Bugg, president of the nonprofit's board of directors, told the planning commission the shelter would make the area safer because fewer people would be on the street.

"I can count the times on one hand we've had any police involved" at previous locations, he said. "I feel like it would be an asset to the problems (nearby residents) are having. It would eliminate (homeless people) prowling around at night. They would have someplace to stay."

In one instance, a homeless man set fire to St. James Methodist Church after shelter volunteers refused to let him spend the night. The congregation asked the shelter to leave shortly after.

Jim Wallace, the president of a company that owns several student apartment complexes in the neighborhood, blamed homeless drug users who live under the North Avenue bridge for hundreds of assaults and thefts at those complexes.

"(The shelter) will negatively affect the business and the tenants, about 4,000 students who live in the area," Wallace said.

"These people are totally out of control," he said, and more will come if the shelter opens.

Lester Perry, a Willow Street resident, said he cannot walk or bike on the Oconee River Greenway because he is harassed by homeless people and prostitutes.

"My tax dollars go toward that greenway," he said. "It could be outstanding. When you can't use it, it's worthless."

East Broad Street resident Rebecca Hood gave the planning commission a petition with 19 signatures opposing the shelter. Her husband, a musician, is frequently away, and suspicious people often knock on her door late at night, she said.

"As the mother of two small children, I'm terrified," she said.

A Banner-Herald investigation in 2008 found little crime along the greenway, despite a few high-profile attacks. People used 30 call boxes along the three-mile paved path to report only eight crimes in 2007.

Will Campbell, the building's owner, said homeless people never have caused trouble for him.

"There have been numerous times when the homeless people come up, ask for work, ask for water," Campbell said. "We've never had any problems."

Planning commissioner Dave Hudgins' law office is in the Saye Metropolitan Building, the shelter's most recent location.

"I have in no way been adversely affected by their presence," Hudgins said.

The planning commission voted unanimously to recommend that the Athens-Clarke Commission approve a special-use permit for the shelter. Opponents said they may fight on, but it would be unusual for the county commission to go against a unanimous recommendation.

If approved, A Bigger Vision co-director Barbara Andersen said she hopes to open the new shelter in October.